Save preaching from preachers

Throughout Islamic history, preaching has been considered one of the bases of purification and advising the soul. Men resort to it in order to hold themselves accountable and review their behavior. Our history is full of pious preachers.

It is dignified to recall goodness and shun evil. However, ignorant men becoming preachers may corrupt preaching and its aims. Scholars have complained of people claiming to be educated and propagating false rhetoric.

Dangers

The most dangerous of these men appear before the public and ignorantly issue religious edicts. A preacher in his mosque told people that he shook hands with the angel Gabriel, and that angels prayed in line behind him.

He apologized after relevant figures told him what he did was wrong, but such men allow myths to find their way into the field of preaching and distort the aims of purification and transcendence.

It is dignified to recall goodness and shun evil. However, ignorant men becoming preachers may corrupt preaching and its aims

Turki Aldakhil

“I knew a man from the public who wore a turban and grew a beard, then taught in a mosque in Damascus, made ignorant statements and called them religion,” said the late scholar Sheikh Ali al-Tantawi.

“Muftis, judges and scholars who’d heard him or knew of him didn’t deny the statements he made. [However] when he criticized someone’s traditional garment, he’d be slammed for that. Was someone’s garment more important to them than religion?!”

Save preaching from preachers!

This article was first published in Okaz on July 14, 2016._______________________Turki Aldakhil is the General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel. He began his career as a print journalist, covering politics and culture for the Saudi newspapers Okaz, Al-Riyadh and Al-Watan. He then moved to pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat and pan-Arab news magazine Al-Majalla. Turki later became a radio correspondent for the French-owned pan-Arab Radio Monte Carlo and MBC FM. He proceeded to Elaph, an online news magazine and Alarabiya.net, the news channel’s online platform. Over a ten-year period, Dakhil’s weekly Al Arabiya talk show “Edaat” (Spotlights) provided an opportunity for proponents of Arab and Islamic social reform to make their case to a mass audience. Turki also owns Al Mesbar Studies and Research Centre and Madarek Publishing House in Dubai. He has received several awards and honors, including the America Abroad Media annual award for his role in supporting civil society, human rights and advancing women’s roles in Gulf societies. He tweets @TurkiAldakhil.